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Damn You, Autocorrect!

March 1, 2012, 1:17 pm

How far have technology and education advanced our civilization? This far:

A student at Lanier Technical College, outside Atlanta, intended to send a text message on Wednesday to a friend saying that he would be at nearby West Hall High School, according to a report by the Gainesville Times, in Georgia.

Instead he typed, “gunna be at West Hall today.” The autocorrect software on his smartphone changed that to “gunman be at West Hall today.” Next the student hit “send,” unaware that he had mistyped his friend’s number.

The unintended recipient of the message, not knowing what to make of it, called 911. Authorities put the high school and a nearby middle school on security lockdown until they could figure out what was going on.

“Our investigators followed up the leads pretty quickly, and they were able to determine that the texts came from a student from Lanier Technical College,” Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks of the Hall County Sheriff’s Department told WXIA-TV in Atlanta. “There was no malicious intent whatsoever; no harm was done. The school was shut down for a couple of hours, and then everything was opened back up.”

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  • ibaidoo

    The study may be confusing correlation with causality.  I think people who get ahead ( and get paid more) have, perhaps, more ruthless ambition than average and succeed at rising up seniority ladders and pay scales more than others.  If they have to be rude to folks along the way, they are probably not bothered.

    Being a jerk doesn’t get you paid. But if getting paid is you primary goal, you’re probably more likely to be a jerk.

  • dizzyizzy

    I welcome this article as a testament to the unresolved character of the Civil War. I tried to write about contradictory portraits of Lincoln here: http://clarespark.com/2011/09/29/the-abraham-lincoln-conundrum/.

  • facultydiva

    If the Board is paying him to conduct the investigation, then they are his client.  However, if they really wanted this to be an independent investigation, Freeh should have negotiated no contact with the trustees other than information gathering until his report was complete. 

  • oldcommprof

    For years I’ve told my students not to rely on SpellCheck because it will bite you on the ass.  This new and useless technology takes that warning to a whole new level!

  • wassall

    If the student knew how to spell “going to” the lockdown wouldn’t have occurred either.

  • thomvernon

    The story of my life these days with the new 4S.

  • jsibelius

    Wish it were as simple as just not relying on spell check.  It’s a bigger issue when the program just makes the correction without asking.  It’s hard to catch a word you didn’t type when it’s not marked.  People don’t really go back and proofread text messages.  They’re short and simple for a reason.  And for all you know, “going to” would have gotten the texter smacked for being too formal with his friends.

  • panhandle

    It’s even harder to catch changed words when you have to look at the keyboard while  typing. I don’t type accurately—any one can type accurately—but I type with wonderful expression. 

  • 22058726

    Maybe this student cried “Autocorrect” when he really meant to type what he typed? When I type “gunna” into a text message on my iPhone, it either leaves it as is or turns into “Gunnar,” never “gunman.”

    Also, most people don’t type in phone numbers to people they text. They usually have them pre-stored under “Contacts.” If this student got away with this prank, look to see it happen again, with variations.

  • Unemployed_Northeastern

    In the spirit of things, I think the article should be entitled, “Dam You, Autocorrect!”

  • jsibelius

    I’ll see you and raise you by one – touch screens.  You can’t type accurately without looking at the keyboard and it’s a major pain to try to look back and forth between the keyboard and text entry area to make sure everything is correct.  Accurate typist or not, this could trip up anyone. (and still the phone salesman looked at me like I’d sprouted a horn on my forehead when I said I wanted a slide-out keyboard on my Android phone.)

  • jsibelius

    Someone should send that to the DYAC website.  They should definitely change their name.

  • Josh

    Heck, even if he’d known how to spell “gonna”!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Antsy-Kuhnwisse/100002159499682 Antsy Kuhnwisse

    Suppose he mistyped “gunna” and instead typed “gunma”?  That’d be an easy mistake to make, and then I bet the autocorrect would substitute “gunman.”

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